Valentine's Day or a long post about lovely food

As previously mentioned, I thought the restaurants would be too crowded on Valentine's Day, so I decided to make something delicious. I get e-mails from delish.com (which I am pretty sure is put out by Martha Stewart), and there was a recipe for a Pumpkin-Sage Cream Sauce that looked perfect for the special day. I also made some Lemon Roasted Broccoli, cucumber salad, and I tried to make rice pudding. Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures, but this meal tasted so much better than it looked anyway.

Here in London, they don't have the "heavy cream" or "half and half" that we are used to in The States. I wouldn't say "instead of the American creams," but I will just say that here, they have "single cream" and "double cream." These creams, that I am sure are actually good for you (not), seem to be the equivalent of heavy cream and heavy cream+.

Knowing that information, for my pumpkin-sage sauce, I used some single cream; a half can of pumpkin; 6 fresh sage leaves, confettied; and 1/3 cup finely graded Pecorino cheese (which is like a cross between Parmesan and Manchego). Just so you know, I have only once successfully made Alfredo sauce - it takes too long to simmer down, has to be at the exact right temperature, and always turns out watery for me. But this sauce from Monday night, magnifico. The pumpkin does the thickening for you, so all you have to do is add everything to a sauce pot, along with some cracked pepper, and heat it up. When it's heated, add a dollop of butter, stir, and serve over some nice linguine.

Mmm Mmmm. In the words of Eric, "This broccoli is like candy." Yeah, except there was no sugar added. Broccoli florets,  thinly sliced garlic, walnut oil, olive oil, sea salt, pepper - roast at 425°F for ~20 minutes, stirring after 8 minutes, adding sliced almonds in the last 3. Take it out. Put it all in a serving bowl. Squirt with lemon juice. Top with cheese (I used the pecorino). Yet another party in my mouth.

Eric brought home "tulips. Because you have two lips that I like to kiss." I also scored several kinds of chocolate. Love him!

Thanks for the Kisses mom. Obviously, they were delicious - that's all we have left.

Last night we went to a restaurant called Tom's Kitchen at Somerset House (Check out that link...fancy). It is located right on the river, and we sat in a big fancy booth and ordered too much good food that we get to have for leftovers today. Also today, I also get to walk off all that good food we had last night that was drenched in cheese and butter.